Meet the 18 startups that MITEF and TechWadi flew to Silicon Valley

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Many startups from the Arab region dream of conquering the
world; not an easy task when you’re based in the Middle East and
North Africa. This year, the famous MIT Entreprise Forum
Arab Startup Competition has decided to team up with
TechWadi, a Silicon-Valley based NGO designed to connect
high-impact entrepreneurs in the Arab world with mentors, capital,
and acceleration in the U.S., to invite 18 top MENA startups ready
for global growth to the Silicon Valley for a week long of
workshops and training. This weeklong program culminated on June
14th when the entrepreneurs where invited to pitch in
front of local VCs and Angel Investors during the 5th
TechWadi Forum.

One week of training

During four days, the 18 startups, selected for their
current growth and international ambitions, pictured above,
benefited from workshops on security and the Internet of Things,
visited a few famous offices including Twitter and Google, were
trained on how to improve their pitchs, and enjoyed a full day of
mentorship.

“I personally enjoyed the mentorship day the most because we got
to sit down in one-on-ones with well established entrepreneurs who
shared their experience and helped us figure out many questions we
had tied in our head,” explains Hassane Slaibi, co-founder at Band
Industries, the company behind Roadie Tuner. “On the company level,
we have made several valuable connections with investors and
mentors […] who gave us excellent advice on business development,
marketing, sales, and product roadmap,” he continues.

Besides Band Industries, 17 startups took part in the program,
almost all previously featured on Wamda. Here are the 18
laureates:

-
Instabeat, swimming tracking device mounted on goggles.
-
Integreight, the hardware company behind 1Sheeld, an
all-purpose Arduino shield connected to a mobile app
-
Band Industries, winner of TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2014 Audience
Choice Award for its connected tuner device Roadie Tuner
-
Gallery AlSharq, provider of exclusive Middle Eastern stock
photography with images and digital content
- MXD3D,
browser-based 3D design tools for the mainstream
- eTobb,
online medical platform that connects patients and doctors around
the globe
-
Harir, online outlet for top design and lifestyle brands at
discounted prices
- Apps2you, leading
Mobile Applications Development Agency with custom-built innovative
solutions
- Wuzzuf,
online recruitment platform focused on job matching algorithms
- Tamatem,
a mobile games publisher serving the Arab world reaching 50 games
(iOS & Android) by the end of 2014
-
FoodLve, social discovery platform for food, where users
collect, create, browse, and buy all about food in one place
- Skill Academy, online platform
that builds skill bootcamps of free online courses from top-tier
universities
-
CardioDiagnostics, wireless cardiac monitoring devices
- Shop Go,
eCommerce platform that offers the opportunity for offline stores
to go online in just one click
-
Karm Solar, the first high-capacity solar pumping solution in
the Middle East & North Africa
-
Jamalon, the largest online bookstore across the Middle
East
- Azur Systems, event
management software
- Nabbesh,
the Middle East and North Africa’s first online work
marketplace

Additionaly, two startups sponsored by Silatech joined the
program, Tawseela, which seeks to
provide affordable and environmentally-friendly solutions to
Cairo’s traffic, and Tatweer, an Egyptian-based startup aiming at
modernizing the kiosk as a retail channel.

A celebration of Arab entrepreneurs

The last day, which was open to the public, was a success. “It
was really a great day,” says Youcef
Es-skouri, founder of GeekFtour and intern at Visual.ly in the
Silicon Valley. “You feel proud to be an Arab, you can feel that
the next Google could come from the Arab world,” continues the
young Moroccan.

Around 150 persons from the tech industry were gathered at the
UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center, in San Francisco
California. It was a great opportunity to connect with people
from all around the Arab world, and to be reminded of how diverse
and similar the Arab population is, says Es-skouri, who left the
event convinced that the Arab region is a market full of
opportunities to which MENA diaspora belongs and should want to
dedicate their effort.

The women panel

Four panels with high-level experts were organized on a variety
of entrepreneurship-related topic such as:

- The Expanding Oasis: Leadership in Building Billion Dollar
Businesses, during which successful entrepreneurs from the MENA
region shared their stories and lessons learned the hard way
- Innovation for Growth: The Paradigm of Entrepreneurship, during
which panelists discussed the relationship between corporates and
startups when it comes to innovation.
- Angels to Crowds: The Rising Support Ecosystem, during which
VCs and BAs gave tips on how to raise money
- MENA Women Rising

The team successfully managed to keep the event upbeat and
interesting by alternating panels and pitches.

The highlight of the event was the closing keynote of Mohamed
Gawdat, VP of Business Innovation at Google[x], the really
secretive R&D lab of Google, which is currently working on the
Google car, and Wael
Ghonim, Entrepreneur in Residence at Google Ventures
in Mountain View.

For Es-skouri, the event was a great way to connect with smart,
and often influential persons from the diaspora in the ecosystem,
but mostly, it was an occasion to be reminded of the potential of
the Arab community. “It gave me hope for the region’s tech
ecosystem,” he concluded.